


Failure to Connect

by DaydreamersMedicine



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Gen Fic, I kinda wrote this for the sake of writing anything at all, Texting, androids don't have tinder, someone just dared me to upload something and this is sitting around on my harddrive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-29 11:52:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19019371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaydreamersMedicine/pseuds/DaydreamersMedicine
Summary: 9S tries to get to know 21O a bit better outside of work hours.





	Failure to Connect

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a short exercise to get back into fic writing a bit, this is what came out of the random prompt idea of "what if you accidentally matched with your boss on tinder" with a NieR Automata flavor. So that's what this is.

9S was swiping through images of the other YoRHa units stationed at the base. He had sent 2B so many messages at this point it was a little absurd, she never brought it up during missions though. Perhaps she never checked her messages… No, that couldn’t be right. She was diligent to the extreme and would always make a beeline for the terminal whenever her pod informed her of any communications.

So… she was ‘ghosting’ him? Was that what it was called? _Great_.

He might as well see if *anyone* on the base wanted to talk to him. Swipe, swipe, swipe… He sat up as he was notified of a match. When he saw what unit it was he felt his chest tighten and face flush in a perfect mimicry of embarrassment.

Why did he match with… His _operator?!_ No, wait, what was Operator 21O even _doing_ on this app?! It half seemed like a joke since the only people who used it were Scanners and the occasional combat android or chatty operators like 6O… but 21O was a serious person, almost as serious as 2B or the commander.

Curiosity won out, (as it always did with 9S) and he opened up a chat with 21O. This was probably one of the first times he had spoken to her off the record… What should he say… He smirked, maybe she wasn’t as annoyed with his ‘unnecessary’ commentary as he first suspected.

**9S: Hey, Operator! I can’t believe we matched, huh? Did you want to talk to me about something?**

He waited for several moments, but there was no reply. He tried again.

**9S: Operator? Hello? Er… 21O? It feels weird addressing you like that. We matched on this app, so I was wondering if that meant you wanted to talk to me.**

There was a busy sign as 21O typed her reply, he was surprisingly anxious about it for some reason.

**21O: I figured perhaps if I got to know you better our productivity would be increased.**

He had to laugh at that. That was so typical of 21O. He was relieved in a way, but also saddened. Still… if that was all, why wait for a match on _this_ app? This was used by androids who… were looking for a distraction, usually of the more carnal sort. The sort that involved very specific modifications and upgrades. It didn’t fit his image of 21O, but maybe he didn’t know her all that well either.

**9S: So, do you want to meet up somewhere to get to know each other better? Or just talk some off-the-record. I don’t know all that much about you either! This could be really fun!**

**21O: …Please be serious, 9S.**

**9S: No can do, we’re off-duty so there’s no call for seriousness. And I really mean it, I want to get to know you better! What do you do for fun?**

She was going to kill him, he could feel it, but he really didn’t have any malice behind his light teasing. He wasn’t always serious but he tried to be sincere.

**21O: I suppose I listen to 6O’s gossip or walk around the bunker.**

**9S: Now who’s not being serious. That’s not all you do, Operator.**

**21O: …I have a small data collection project I’ve been working on. Relating to social structures within humanity. It’s not that vital to YoRHa operations, but it is interesting.**

That caught his attention. Maybe that was the reason she messaged him. 21O was always so focused on her work, it wouldn’t surprise 9S if she didn’t have a lot of friends. He felt something like warmth blossom in his chest too, imagining her combing through old data files to try and understand their mysterious creators.

**9S: Tell me more about that, I’m sure you’ve found something interesting to catch your attention, right?**

There was a long pause while 21O typed. 9S tried to imagine if there was any excitement in the three waiting dots. If there was any emotion. 21O was good at being a YoRHa unit, she was good at masking her emotions. But they were created to feel, no matter how much they denied themselves. He wanted to even imagine something lighting up in the stoic operator.

**21O: I’ve been having trouble understanding the concept of ‘family’. He had assumed it would be a long message, but maybe that simple sentence had taken her a long time to create.**

**9S: What do you mean?**

**21O: At first I assumed it simply meant those related by blood. But then it seemed people not related by blood could also be a ‘family’ of sorts. Two humans could start a family and have it blossom into many new individuals. A family can be small or big.**

**21O: I don’t think there’s anything equivalent that we could understand.**

**9S: Maybe…**

**21O: Reading about it made me feel…**

She trailed off and didn’t finish the statement. As the seconds passed he got more uncomfortable. The feeling in his chest was all too familiar. When 2B pushed him away. When 21O coldly reminded him not to get emotional. When even the other scanners felt distant. It was…

**9S: Lonely?**

No response. Maybe she was done talking. He almost closed the channel when a final reply blipped through.

**21O: Yes.**

He laid back against his bunk, thinking about the conversation. There was a lingering question between the lines of text and code of the message that he could almost read. He knew 21O could read that question too.

**Conversation Ended 15:32 03/07/11945**


End file.
